


Do You Copy? (Plan S: Survive)

by GhostRequiem, Visualwolf281



Category: Trolls (2016), Trolls World Tour (2020), Trolls: The Beat Goes On (Cartoon)
Genre: Aftershocks, Almost death, Angst with a Happy Ending, Broken Bones, Buried Alive, Character trapped underground, Earthquakes, Essentially Solitary Confinement, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Hickory is an unrelenting force of nature, Hurt/Comfort, Lengthy recovery, M/M, Months of no-contact, Physical Therapy, Romantic Relationships are going to take a bit, Self-setting on broken bones, Severe Injury, Shock, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:34:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25798996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostRequiem/pseuds/GhostRequiem, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Visualwolf281/pseuds/Visualwolf281
Summary: Pop Troll Village has survived many things thanks to Branch's survival skills and quick thinking. But, when the survivalist is put to the test, will his years of preparedness, resourcefulness and multi-skill help him survive a cave in from a devastating earthquake, or will his paranoia and past traumas be a recipe for the battle of the minds? Branch just knows that one thing is certain, his bunker will be his grave if he isn't rescued in time.Poppy and Hickory are put into separate tests when their beloved friend and crush is trapped inside his bunker after an earthquake hits Pop Troll Village. Poppy must face the difficult task of helping her kingdom recover this trauma and horrific disaster while also trying to save Branch.Hickory must save this man to not only prove those around him that he is not just some deceptive bounty hunter. Will Hickory let past experience undermine him as he is reminded of those he lost, and could now lose, or will his determination be the key to Branch's survival?
Relationships: Branch/Hickory (Trolls), Branch/Hickory/Queen Poppy (Trolls), Branch/Queen Poppy (Trolls), Hickory/Queen Poppy (Trolls)
Comments: 15
Kudos: 47





	1. The Things We Grow in the Ground

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An earthquake hits Pop Village, catching the fun-loving trolls completely unaware. Hickory, recently been transformed into a country troll, is helping rebuild the destroyed homes from the Tour's wreckage. Being the only troll there with earthquake experience, he immediately jumps into action.
> 
> Everyone is accounted for.
> 
> ...right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter written by Ghost (Vee).

Day 0: The Earthquake  
**Hickory and Poppy**

Hickory was in the middle of hefting a bundle of boards over his shoulder when the first shakes hit. 

He had been helping Pop Village rebuild. He was headed to a construction site where new pods, some in the early stages of framework, were being worked on by the villagers. He learned that this was the second big rebuild in a short period of time, thanks to all the damage from the previously-enemy Bergens. In an effort to make them sturdier this time around, they'd consulted the help from other Genres, and had a unique team of trolls working together.

He knew immediately that these shakes were not the oncoming footsteps of larger creatures, and dropped the boards in his effort to get to Poppy as fast as possible. As he passed confused villagers along the way, he frantically shouted advice.

" _Get t' safety! Get under a table, or in a secure pod! Don't stand under anythin' breakable, or windows_!" 

A deafening crack echoed through the village, as a young tree split up the middle and began to topple. A terrified orange troll-ling stood frozen in its path.

Hickory tore off in the baby's direction, all four legs burning with effort to get there in time. He thanked whomever was listening for his transformation, as he snatched the little one up on the move. They clung tightly to his chest, arms too short to wrap around his neck, as they sped towards their Queen’s last known location.

Cresting a hill, he spotted Poppy shouting, darting around, trying to get everyone to safety as the ground became increasingly less steady. 

“Hickory!!”

“Quick! Everyone get under somethin’ sturdy!”

Trolls fled and ducked under various benches, tables, house frames. The cowboy scooped the pink troll up as well, darting under a nearby awning. He pressed the child into Poppy’s arms, tucked them both against the wall, and covered them with as much of his bulk as possible. He folded his arms over his head and neck as the worst convulsion thus far shook the earth around them.

“Close yer eyes an’ mouth-” He warned the two under him. Poppy spared him a wide-eyed glance before obeying and curling around the troll-ling.

A distant part of Hickory’s mind screamed in terror, remembering the many quakes and avalanches he’d grown up through. Dickory wasn’t here to comfort him this time, and it was his duty now to help protect the trolls around him. He held himself together as much as possible, but couldn’t stop his back legs from trembling as the ground rocked and folks screamed.

He wasn’t sure how long the earthquake went on- he logically knew they often only lasted minutes but the ache in his arms and legs made him feel like it had been hours. When the dust began to settle and there had been no more tremors for some time, he began to stiffly unlock himself from his guarding position.

Immediately, he could hear hoarse calls, screams, and panicked sounds around him. 

“Poppy. Ye all righ’?”

The pink troll was covered in dirt and shaking. The babe in her arms seemed unharmed, if scared and unsure.

“I- what was- what happened- I don’t-”

“Easy now,” Hickory bent to cup her cheek. “Look at me. We gotta check on everyone.”

He saw the moment his beloved Poppy got locked away and only the Pop Queen was present. There would be time to cry later.

“They were righ’ in a fallin’ tree’s path,” he explained, jerking his head toward the baby. “I don’ know who their folks are.”

“Right, first thing, start checking on everyone. Second, find parents,” She nodded, swallowing. “Who’re your parents, little one?”

The young troll was silent, eyes wide. Poppy cradled them close, wiping dust off their face as best as possible.

“They might be in shock. Earthquakes are scary stuff,” Hickory lifted a fallen part of the awning, giving them more room to get out. The valley around them was foggy with debris. “Here, youngin’. Perch here an’ holler when ye see yer folks.”

He patted the dip in his lower spine, where Poppy placed them gently. They immediately grabbed fistfuls of his leather vest. He gave Poppy a hand over broken ground as they made their way towards other trolls. Many were lightly injured, scratches and scrapes. A few people had gotten hit by falling debris, sporting bruised bodies and some, bruised skulls. Poppy set up a chain of helpers immediately, triaging the worst injuries to a mostly untouched area for Dr. Plum to get to as quickly as possible. They checked in with every villager they passed, sending any injured to the clearing and helped dig any they could find out. 

It was slow work. No one seemed to know who the troll-ing was related to and they were still too scared to talk. Along the way, Hickory did his best to explain.

“Tha’ was an earthquake. Happened sometimes, where I’m from. The ground shakes an’ rolls, it kin destroy homes an’ buildings.”

“That was _normal_ for you??”

“Eh?” Hickory shrugged, climbing over fallen branches. “We had earthquakes an’ avalanches. Seemed normal fer us.”

By the time they had gotten to most of the village, the dust had settled and gave way to a cloudy afternoon. Poppy seemed keyed up, holding herself stiffly and remaining mostly quiet.

“Knock on wood, Miss Poppy, nobodys hurt bad, an’ we ain’t lost anybody.”

They finished clearing a nearby blue pod, the occupants dirty but unharmed, when they heard a troll’s ragged cry. 

“Apricot! Apricot?” their voice broke halfway through. The troll-ling on Hickory’s back stirred for the first time since being placed safely on him.

“Poppy-!” Hickory pointed across the clearing, where a pair of Autumn-colored trolls were frantically searching. The pink queen shouted to get their attention, and they all ran to each other. The moment the pair saw the babe, their cries turned from desperate to relieved. Hickory explained what happened as they squeezed the babe between them. When he was done, he got added to the fierce hug; no one’s eyes were dry. The centaur gently ruffled the child’s hair before they made their goodbyes, heading to the next folks that needed help.

It was late evening when Poppy and Hickory were taking a break, sipping cool water and trying to force their stomachs to accept some food when they realized- no one had seen Branch.

Hickory only got there first due to his extra legs. Poppy was right behind him, but they were too late to do anything; the Bunker had suffered damage. Hickory could only hope that Branch's fortified bunker withstood the initial quake.

\------------------------

Day 0: Buried Alive  
**Branch**

The lights flickering down the hall from him was his only warning before the ground around Branch heaved. He jolted out of his chair in the library, heading out the door when the first bookshelf fell onto him. It caught on another tumbled shelf, throwing its contents to the floor and hitting the blue-grey troll. He tried covering his head as best as possible as he was pelted with heavy volumes. He tried to pull himself out from under the collapsed shelves when a long, tall shelf fell directly across his freed leg. There was a wet crunch, and suddenly excruciating pain. Branch would have screamed if he’d had air to do so; instead he fought simply to breathe.

He didn’t remember how long the quake went, or how long he remained trapped under the bookshelves. At some point, the lights in the room glowing dimly, he’d wrenched himself out and remained prone on the floor. He wasn’t able to see much in the dust and gloom, but his leg was a throbbing line of fire and he couldn’t use it. He crawled forward down the hallway, each bit jostling his leg, making his vision white out. 

The rooms he passed seemed ruined, supplies damaged and furniture destroyed. He prayed his medical supplies had survived at least.

By the time he made it to the room with the first aid supplies, his exhales were tiny screams of pain. He had tried not to look til now, and nearly passed out seeing the unnatural angle his leg bent. Branch cried in relief to discover that the supplies had been jostled and upended, but mostly unharmed. Gritting his teeth, he began preparing to set his broken leg as best as possible.

With shaking hands, he gathered rods, spools of flat cotton rope, and various straps he’d used to wrap around open bags. 

_This is going to be the worst part,_ he thought. _But you can’t go for help ‘til this leg is splinted._

He tied a loop in one of the ropes around the ankle of his injured leg. Once good and snug, he threw the rope over the door handle, grabbing it when it swung back towards him on the floor. He blanched while pulling the rope, elevating his leg. He knew he had to re-align the bone before splinting, but-

As he pulled, he felt increasingly sick, black spots filling his vision. He took a deep breath, steeling himself, and gave a harsh yank. He felt the bone-on-bone grind and then with a nauseating pop, lined the broken pieces back. He barely had the ability to tie the rope off in that exact position before turning and retching beside himself. 

Sobbing through the entire process, he managed to splint the leg with the rods and straps. Once he was certain the leg was immobile, he untied the rope and carefully let his leg back down. He wept in agony on the floor, completely spent. The Pop Troll felt his adrenaline begin to wear off, shock creeping in. He fought unconsciousness, trying to get to the nearest exit before the aftershocks came.


	2. Prison of my Own Design

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone struggles with the aftermath of the initial quake- and then the aftershocks arrive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably a good point to remind everyone that this story, while a slow-burn and full of angst, will have a happy ending. 
> 
> This chapter brought to you by Viz.

Day 0: Tug-of-War  
 **Hickory and Poppy**

Hickory was shouting at the top of his lungs calling out for Branch, wondering if the troll could hear him. Hickory began to try to lift the boulder that was blocking off of the entrance when Poppy held Hickory back.

“HICKORY!” yelled Poppy, “STOP! We can just pull rocks off at random. Look, we gotta calm down and-”

Hickory cut Poppy off and said, “NO YOU GOTTA HELP BRANCH NOW, WE CAN’T WAIT POPPY! HE COULD BE HURT, RUNNING OUT OF OXYGEN OR DYING!”

Poppy then pulled the hyperventilating country centaur into a tight hug, rubbing her friend’s back to calm him down. The female troll wondered if she was doing this to help her friend or herself. The Pop Queen then told Hickory that she will gather some people to help out. Once Hickory’s breathing slowed down Poppy let go and left to go get help, leaving Hickory to sit down with his back legs sitting while the front legs resting as he grips his hair in fear and frustration.

A couple of hours later the Pop Queen brought a group of people consisting of the Snack Pack Crew and a couple of Rock Trolls that were visiting Pop Troll Village.

“Pipsqueak!” shouted Barb, “What happened here?”

Once Poppy explained the situation to the Rock Queen she turned to Riff and told him to try to get the construction trolls back at Volcano City as fast they could. Once Riff and Sid left for Rock City on the fastest vehicle the Queen grabbed Carol and the rest of the rock trolls that were with her and asked the Pop Queen where they could start. Both Pop and Rock trolls started to help Hickory move the giant boulder that was blocking the entrance to Branch’s home. The trolls tried to lift the giant rock all together at once but to no avail. Barb and Carol then thought of an idea and left. Hickory looked at the two women and yelled at them in anger to come back in help. The yodeler was going to go and chase them down when the two women came back with some kind of rope. Barb threw one rope with two hooks on it up and over a strong tree branch while Carol wrapped a rope with some hoops. Once the hook and hoop attached, Barb ordered the rock trolls to get the end of the rope to help pull. Poppy did the same thing and had the Pop Trolls help the Rock Trolls pull the rope. Hickory goes up to the front and positions himself to pull on the rope. The trolls groan in frustration as they use all their strength to pull the boulder; the giant rock refuses to move. 

After ten minutes of no progress Carol then tells Barb that she is going to get the critter bus. Moments later, Barb and Poppy tied the end of the rope tightly to the vehicle. Everyone got ready; the trolls pulled on the rope again with the help of the critter bus. Hickory smiled as he saw results; the boulder was starting to rise a bit.

“THAT’S IT, CAROL,” Barb shouted, “FLOOR IT!”

Carol hit the gas in reverse harder as she gave the bus all she got, making sure to not flood the engine. With each passing moment the boulder is lifted a few inches higher each time. Hickory heard something, like a faint voice. So, the cowboy yelled everyone to be quiet and the vehicle to be off; Carol turned off the critter bus after putting the vehicle in park with the emergency break on. Once everything was quiet Hickory was able to hear the faint voice again. It was Branch’s

Day 0: Cruel Fate  
 **Branch**

The short troll groaned as he woke up. Branch looked around and saw that the lights were still working. The grey-blue troll looked at his leg and saw the job he did on it; it was not the best job, but it will have to do for now. The survivalist looked around for equipment; he found a broken piece of shelf, a throw-pillow, and a small flashlight. Branch then looked inside his vest and pulled out tape and a pocket knife. The troll grabbed more pieces of the broken shelf and ripped apart a throw-pillow, together he made homemade crutches. With it, Branch gets up and starts hobbling over to the emergency exit. It is the only thing that could withstand this quake.

It took Branch a while after to reach the exit, but he made. Unfortunately, once the troll reached to the exit he saw that ruble had blocked the exit; a support beam was blocking the entrance. The troll screamed out cursing; he cannot believe this is happening. The troll was left with one option, the elevator. Branch did not want to use it due to the possibility of it being damaged. But what choice did the injured troll have. Branched sighed as he limped towards the elevator.

The survivalist looked at the elevator and looked up. The troll takes a big gulp as he stepped onto the platform. Branch pulls out his little flashlight as the elevator starts up. The elevator wobbles and shakes but continues moving. The survivalist is able to see that many of the rooms that he had specialized and dedicated them for specific uses were either destroyed or were about to collapse. Once Branch reaches to the top he sees that all of the bear traps and mouse traps activated, the door to the other exit was blocked and the only light that existed up in the ceiling was now blocked by something, leaving the troll with his little flashlight as his light source.

The troll was devastated; the sadness and realization was the troll’s bunker being his tomb was hitting hard. Branch was starting to hyperventilate as he gripped his hair and his eyes started tearing up. That is when the troll heard something. It sounded like a bus or vehicle of some kind, along with voices. That when Branch sees the boulder moving; it is being lifted. Branch shines his light to the ceiling and sees that the boulder is being raised. The troll couldn’t believe that he was being rescued. Light from the sun was shining through the little opening that the greyish blue troll could see.

“HEY! DOWN HERE! DOWN HERE!” Branch screamed at the top of his lungs.

The troll used his wooden crutch to bang onto the metal of the bear trap while he screamed. The noise stopped, Branch shouted one last time to see if the people from above could hear him. His prayers were answered when he heard familiar voices. The one voice that stood out surprised him: Hickory’s.

“Branch!” shouted a worried Hickory, “are you okay?!?”

Branch said that he is fine, he only had a broken leg that he put a splint on. Branch could tell that Hickory was horrified by his response from the way his eyes widened in extreme concern.   
The troll then sticks his hand out down into the opening.

“Can you reach my hand, Branch?” 

The injured troll tried to jump but realized that it was a mistake as he winces from causing pain to his injured leg. Branch tells the former bounty hunter to try to pull him up with his wooden crutch. Hickory stretched his hand as far as he could while Branch used his good leg to get on his tippy toes and stick his crutch up in the air for Hickory to reach. The cowboy’s fingers could only touch the crutch but were not able to get a hold of the crutch itself.

“Poppy! Barb!” shouted Hickory as he disappeared for a moment, “tie that rope around me and lower me down as much as you can.”

When the centaur came back he had rope tied around his waist as he lowered a bit. This helped Hickory grasp the crutch with both his hands as he saw the injured troll use all his strength to hold himself up with his injured leg. All of a sudden there was a great shake; the two looked at each other and knew that it was an aftershock. Hickory gripped the wooden crutch tightly and told Branch to hold on. The two were being pulled up, then they were falling as they suddenly were stopped roughly. This caused the injured troll to lose grip of his crutch as he fell on his back.

“BRANCH!” Hickory screamed.

The troll groaned, he then looked at Hickory in panic as the centaur was being pulled further and further away from Branch. The centaur screamed for Barb and Poppy to lower him down while the shaking got rougher, his demands were diminished by the rumbling roar. Branch felt the ground shaking; the troll realized he was on the elevator platform and it was giving way. The two trolls looked at each other one last time, their hands reaching out as if they could touch. The platform gave and Branch started to experience a floating like sensation. Branch could only hear the centaur’s incoherent cry as he fell back to the subterrain level of his bunker that he had previously escaped from. 

Branch heard a popping sound around his shoulder, he screamed out in excruciating pain. The adrenaline was the only thing pushing him through the leg pain as he hobbled off the platform and rushed to safety as the walls of those rooms he had built were giving in. The troll was able to move out of the way from being buried by rubble, but he was not able to avoid a piece of plank or rock from hitting his head. This knocked the troll out, sending him to the land of dreamless sleep.

Day 1  
 **Hickory**

The centaur was safe. Poppy and Barb had pulled him out of the hole in time before the giant boulder that was suspended up in the air by rope ripped. Once the boulder made a big thud, the ground cracked and caused a boulder size sinkhole; swallowing every inch of the ground around them. No one was pulled into the sinkhole. But, Hickory knew that Branch was swallowed by the damaged structure of his bunker. Branch was now back inside, now even deeper, of his bunker.

The centaur moved once the shaking stopped and started clawing and digging up the dirt that consumed Branch’s home. Barb’s and Poppy’s voices fell on silent ears; the centaur acting all feral until the two women could hold the troll down. Hickory then felt a prick, he looked and saw that a medic troll that was out here checking everyone’s well-being had injected him with something. The troll's eyes started becoming heavy, he struggled less and less, and then Hickory felt his heart and mind slowing down. The troll let exhaustion and tiredness consume him as his mind wanders into the realm of sleep.


End file.
